SAGINAW — Two campaigners calling for the removal of President Barack Obama today are camped outside a downtown U.S. Postal Service office with doctored posters of the 44th president sporting an Adolf Hitler mustache and a cross-eyed glare.

SN: Not nice.

It’s been mere weeks since the country was left to ponder the hate-filled vitriol of recent politics that came under criticism after the shooting of an Arizona congresswoman and several others in Tucson. Six people were killed and others wounded, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

We’re all for free speech, obviously. Even strong and offensive opinions have a right to be aired in our society. But to those who use the most abusive tactics, we submit there is a better way to get one’s point across than by taunting people with divisive language and images.

The two men, who said they did not want to be identified for “security purposes,” irked at least a few passersby who expressed frustration at the altered Obama portrait.

The campaigners passed out pamphlets and informational packets supporting the LaRouche Political Action Committee, a Virginia-based national organization named after activist Lyndon LaRouche, who some have labeled a “political extremist” and others have compared to a “cult leader.”

The packets were critical of recent health care reforms and Wall Street bailouts while calling on the use of the 25th Amendment to remove the president.

One of the pamphlets handed out in Saginaw read, “Nazi Health-Care Forcing Great Britain’s Genocidal N.I.C.E. Policy On The American Citizenry Austerity Cutting The Budget To Service Wall Street’s Gambling Debts (Expletive)-Kissing Ceding U.S. Economic Sovereignty To The Rothschild Inter-Alpha Group Of Banks.”

A photo with Obama wearing the Hitler-like mustache appears above the text.

SN: So, they don’t like the Obama administration’s policies? Well, they aren’t alone, which is why November’s election turned out the way it did.

People used the ballot box to show their disapproval for the direction the country was taking and to voice their frustration with the high unemployment and a stalled economy.

Sending a message in that way, we would argue, is far more effective than doctored-up posters and coarse dialogue.

When a post office patron asked the men why they were displaying the doctored Obama poster, one of the campaigners replied simply, “because he’s like Hitler.”

SN: Hitler? Really. Comparing Obama to a mass-murdering megalomaniac who touted his “master race” is ridiculous, and deliberately obnoxious.

They don’t like the guy. Fine. As the leader of a country as large and varied as ours, it’s no surprise that President Obama has detractors. But the politics of hate behind their message is disturbing.

We should be able to disagree without resorting to this kind of nasty pettiness.

The two men, who said they were from Redford, planned to camp at the spot until about 4 p.m. and would not return Thursday.

“I was so appalled,” said Ben G. Frazier, a 33-year-old Saginaw resident who came across the display while checking his P.O. box. “I didn’t even listen to the justification of what they were saying when I saw (the Obama images). It’s so derogatory, so demeaning and utterly appalling during this time that we are experiencing so much division.”

SN: We are indeed a divided nation. This kind of rhetoric and hyperbole don’t help.

They only serve to feed into the paranoia of those on the fringes of political belief.

LaRouche was a former presidential candidate who campaigned both as a Democrat and U.S. Labor Party member.

A 1985 Washington Post article detailed his following at the time:

Washington Post: LaRouche “leads what may well be one of the strangest political groups in American history,” the conservative Heritage Foundation said in a report. “LaRouche has managed to attract a small but fanatical following to his conspiratorial view of the world.”

LaRouche served six years in prison beginning in 1988 for conspiracy to commit mail fraud and tax code violations.

SN: It’s easy to create controversy with distasteful imagery such as that these men employed. It’s reminiscent of what members of that Westboro, Ky., church do, protesting at the funerals of U.S. military personnel.

But in the end, such tactics rarely attract converts to their cause, because their core message is obscured by hate.

We encourage people to become engaged. We want them to be involved in politics, educated about the issues.

That is what will keep our country thriving.

The Tree of Liberty should be rooted deeply in constructive debate and criticism, not the shallow shoots of invective and hate.